On the Wall Series

The first thing one notices about Germany’s two largest cities, Hamburg and Berlin, is the ubiquitous graffiti. A closer look reveals the advertising of the alternate communities intermingled with the graffiti, and the graffiti itself is heavily influenced by the international art world. On the walls one can see the influences from Richard Hambleton, Blek le Rat, Jean-Michel Basquiat (SAMO), Walter Josef Fischer (Oz), Oliver Bienkowski, Blu, Mark Jenkins, Ronald English, Caledonia Dance Currie (Swoon), and others. The walls are a museum of the history of graffiti art.

The words intermingled with the images often convey a political statement sometimes several stories high. The graffiti is still found on the remaining sections of the Berlin wall, where much of the graffiti began, as individuals defying its harsh reality painted art onto its surface.